Speed the Plough mixes Yo La Tengo's faraway feeling of summer daydreams with the edgier lyrics and more somber mien of the Feelies.

Though this may be the time of year when cloying pop covers of Christmas songs are picked up from far too many supermarket checkout lines, let it not sour you on all covers completely. The ten artists listed herein are laudable exemplars of how to make the cover version an artform all its own.

Yo La Tengo has released a companion video to the animated wonderland that represented "Ohm", where a cigar smoking baby commandeers a vintage VW bug while a mathematical equation scrolled on a white board uses band names, musicians and lyrics to answer the question "Who is Yo La Tengo?"

The first lines on Fade may be, "Sometimes the bad guys come out on top / Sometimes the good guys lose," but Yo La Tengo proves that nothing could be further from the truth, at least in its own case.

In lieu of our regular monthly overview, this edition of “Listening Ahead” offers up an early 2013 preview with sneak peaks of some of the best and most intriguing albums that the coming months have to offer.

Indie-rock's most revered recluse makes a rare appearance in New York City and in so doing, manages to overcome his own myth, one song at a time.

Jeff Mangum, Yo La Tengo, Will Oldham, Stephin Merritt, the Mountain Goats, the late Jay Reatard, and dozens more pay tribute to one of the best songwriters no one has ever heard of -- and what a joy it is to listen to.